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Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion
"I didn't have the words for it at the time, but I thought you were too good for me. That you couldn't possibly love me, because you were human and I was Borg. In the end, you were the brave one. You always were, from the time you first saw me, still just a lost drone, my skin still pale, and still covered in Borg technology. You were among the first to be kind to me. And you were the first to come to me, to make me face my feelings, to get me to tell the truth, and that is a large part of why I love you so much Sammy. You bring out the best in me." - Seven of Nine to Samantha Wildman ("Part 3: Sweeter Than Heaven"). Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion is a fan fiction series set in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe, and is currently being published on Fan Fiction.net and Archive of Our Own under the pseudonym Zeus Parker and at Wattpad under the author's real name, Brian Webber. * Part 1: Louder Than Sirens: FF.net. AO3. Wattpad * Part 2: Louder Than Bells: FF.net. AO3. Wattpad * Part 3: Sweeter Than Heaven: FF.net. AO3. Wattpad * Part 4: Hotter Than Hell: FF.net. AO3. WattPad The 4 part series, each entry deriving its title from the chorus of the Florence + the Machine song "Drumming Song," follows a romantic relationship between Seven of Nine and Ensign Samantha Wildman from its early uncertain stages through to their marriage and eventually to Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. While the romance is the main focus of the series, the series also reinterprets events from various episodes from Seasons 4 through 7, including but not limited to having Harry Kim remember and suffer PTSD as a result of the events of "Year Of Hell", and suggesting that Captain Ransom's fall from grace in "Equinox" may have been in part caused by the toxic influence of First Officer Burke, who A Fire of Devotion interprets as a sociopath who had emotionally abused B'Elanna Torres during their prior relationship. The Borg Degradation In addition to the Seven of Nine/Samantha Wildman relationship, the other major arc of the 4-parter is the Borg Degradation (named as such by Seven of Nine herself in "Part 2: Louder Than Bells"). The Degradation in question is the glacial pace at which the Borg Collective seems to be weakening; increasingly poor tactical decisions, an increase in the amount of time it takes to adapt to enemy weapons or to regenerate, abandoning operations after a single setback, etc. Seven attempts to investigate what could be causing this Degradation out of concern that, while beneficial to the galaxy in the long-term, a collapsing Borg Collective could be more dangerous in the short term. However, her efforts are hampered by an unexplained difficulty remaining focused on the topic; a concern as no other issue aboard Voyager has such an effect on her attention span. The concern is exacerbated when other crew members have to be reminded that her Borg Degradation theory exists in the first place. Seven confides in Samantha that it frightens her that there could be a force out there powerful enough to simultaneously effect the memories of both the Borg Collective and the Federation. Original Characters The majority of characters in this story are pre-existing characters from Voyager, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise, but there are a small number of characters who do not exist in either the main canon or the B canon (the novels, comics, video games, etc.). This does not include characters who appeared on screen but were not named either on-screen or in the script. * Lieutenant Kitrick: In "Part 1: Louder Than Sirens", Commander Chakotay suggests arranging for her and Seven of Nine to meet upon hearing that Seven's "not into men." Lieutenant Kitrick, who works primarily in Voyager's transporter rooms, was named after Jess Kitrick, the host of the YouTube series Fool's Gold. * Ensign Jerry Nava: In "Part 2: Louder Than Bells", Seven of Nine, Ensign Wildman, and Commander Chakotay are enlisted by Captain Braxton of the Federation time-ship Relativity to investigate the cause of the disappearance of Starfleet's first warp 5 ship, the NX-01. Ensign Nava was a member of the NX-01 security team. The character was named after Jerry Nava, a.k.a. The Film Renegado on YouTube. * Quorzom: A member of an unnamed species who appears in "Part 4: Hotter Than Hell" inside Unimatrix Zero. The character is never explicitly said to be a member of the Silicoid race from the Master Of Orion PC game franchise, but the name Quorzom is one of the default names you are given when you select the Silicoids in Master of Orion 2, ''and the character Quorzom is described as being like a humanoid crystal. "Soundtrack" Consisting mainly of music the author listened to while working on the story, lyrics from some of the songs featured appear in the story as dialogue; in particular when Samantha Wildman playfully says to Seven of Nine early in "Part 2: Louder Than Bells;" "Shut up and dance with me," a reference to the song of the same name. Spotify Link: https://play.spotify.com/user/1223442464/playlist/7JKcUhcUnpWtJmbqOG4q5K # Star Trek Voyager - Main Title by Jerry Goldsmith # Then She Appeared by XTC # Drumming Song by Florence + the Machine # Recover by CHVRCHES # Strangeness and Charm by Florence + the Machine # Shut Up And Dance by WALK THE MOON # Boom Clap by Charli XCX # Destiny by Zero 7 # Radio by Lana Del Rey # Closer by Tegan and Sara # You've Got The Love by Florence + the Machine # Smiling Underneath by Ani DiFranco # The Adventure by Angels & Airwaves # I Could Not Ask For More by Sara Evans # Push by Sarah McLachlan # Make Them Gold by CHVRCHES # Fellow Travelers by Procol Harum # Farewell and Into the Inevitable by Sam Hulick "Section 31: Cloak" and "Assimilation2" For the purposes of the story, '''A Fire of Devotion' treats the non-canon Star Trek TOS novel Section 31: Cloak by S.D. Perry and the IDW comic book miniseries Star Trek The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 as canon. The events of Section 31: Cloak are referenced in "Part 1: Louder Than Sirens" during the chapter based on the episode "The Omega Directive," and the events of Assimilation2 play a key role in The Borg Degradation arc. Other non-canon Trek materials are used for purposes of reference, but are not treated as canon in the story itself. Trivia The series has an unofficial prequel; "Jetrel Redux." While neither Seven of Nine nor Samantha Wildman feature in the story, it takes place in the same canon as A Fire of Devotion, and events in it are a set up to the author's reworking of the Season 7 episode "Homestead." The series title derives from the lyrics of another Florence + the Machine song, "What Kind Of Man." The inspiration for the series came from the Internet Review show SF Debris; in particular the reviews of the Voyager episodes "Bliss" and "Shattered." Ironically, the author had forgotten that in the actual canon of the show, Seven of Nine and Samantha Wildman had shared a scene together in the mess hall during the episode "Mortal Coil." The reason the author uses his real name on Wattpad is because when he made the decision to start posting the story there, the username for his pseudonym was already taken. Firebird-X, author of the popular Legend of Zelda fan fic "Parallel Symphony" (and its two sequels), is one of A Fire of Devotion's Beta readers. Work on Part 4 of A Fire of Devotion halted briefly in late 2016 after the death of the author's father on Thanksgiving Day of that year. The character of Hokor the Hook-chest (Part 4) is named after the coach of the Ionath Krakens football team from [http://galacticfootballleague.com/ Scott Sigler's Galactic Football League series]. Several other Krakens players' names are used for deceased Voyager crewmembers who were never named on screen (and in one instance, an Equinox crewmember). Discontinuity The following Voyager episodes are considered to have "not happened" with regard to the timeline of '''A Fire of Devotion, '''for various reasons. * Threshold * The Q and the Grey * Vis à Vis * In The Flesh * The Disease * Someone To Watch Over Me * Fair Haven * Spirit Folk * Fury * Inside Man * Human Error * Q2 * Endgame Any episode not on this list that wasn't adapted in the text of the fic is considered to have either happened exactly as they did in the original canon (such as "Living Witness"), or to have not happened differently enough for the author to justify giving them a full chapter (example: "Think Tank."). Category:Trivia Category:Fan fiction Category:Fan fiction series Category:Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion Category:Fan fiction novels